The World in 2030

The World in 2030 217
over the last 15 years gives confidence that a dramatic
shift in electricity generation technology over the next
quarter-century is possible. 415
Technological ‘breakthroughs’ and exciting new developments
in solar-generated power seem to be coming thick and
fast at present. For example, one award-winning British development
applies the properties of electrically-conducting
nanotechnology plastics to bring down the cost of producing
solar-driven energy generation systems. The announcement
of the £250,000 award made by the Royal Society describes
the technology’s potential:
A proposal for developing tools to make energy-efficient
and low-cost solar panels and lighting sources
available to a wide market has won an award from
the Royal Society.
Professor Bradley and his colleagues made plans to
commercially develop two production processes for
plastic electronics.
Plastic electronics uses novel organic, carbon-based
semiconductors, instead of the traditional silicon,
gallium arsenide and related inorganic materials.
These new organic semiconductors combine solubility,
allowing solution coating and printing to be used
in the fabrication of devices, and properties, such
as flexibility and toughness, with the key functional
characteristics of traditional semiconductors.